Daily Archives: 15. October 2016

The Cleveland Cavaliers and J.R Smith have finally agreed on a four-year contract worth $57 million.

Since the start of training camp, contract negotiations between the Cavaliers front office and J.R Smith has been dragging on as both parties seemed to be far away from their evaluation of how much J.R was worth to the team financially.

Cavaliers teammates Lebron James and Kevin Love spent the last month lobbying for J.R. Smith to get rewarded with a contract after for his role in their championship win last season. Well looks like that contract hassle is over.

J.R in a video released on Uninterrupted.com announced the deal saying “We are extremely happy and proud to say we have agreed to terms to come back to the Cleveland Cavaliers, AKA the champs. AKA my brothers”

The 31-year-old was a major contributor last season for the Cavs on their way to the NBA finals averaging 12.4 points per game and shooting 40 percent on 3-pointers in 77 games.

In his 12 seasons in the NBA, Smith earned approximately $45.5 million. The new deal, which was first reported by ESPN gives Smith a guaranteed $45 million for the first three years of the deal, which was the $15 million per season he was looking for when negotiations opened this summer. If he stays for the fourth season, he will get an extra $12 million, taking his total earnings to $57 million.

“It’s been a long road. I appreciate everyone sticking with us through this rough patch of time,” Smith said on the video. “I know the holdout and everything has been long and tedious for everybody. But it’s extremely huge for us and we’re happy to be a part of the Cleveland family.”

When asked about the agreement, Cavs coach Ty Lue said “It’s great news, anytime you get your starting 2-guard back. [He was] a big part of what we did the last two years. It means a lot so hopefully we get the contract signed, and we’ll be going in the right direction.”

Lebron James has also expressed his happiness with the Smith deal.

So damn happy for my Lil bro!! Well deserved. Good things happens to good people. I can’t express how happy I am for you brother! Love https://t.co/cEGGwz3bdE

Leicester City captain Wes Morgan has admitted the club feels the absence of N’golo Kante.

The French midfielder left the club for Chelsea in the summer and played against his former club for the first time today, since he left the foxes.

But while Morgan admits the France international is missed, he insists it is time to move on.

“He was fantastic for us last season, he was our Player of the Year, what he did was incredible,” Morgan told Sky Sports.

“He came from a relatively unknown team in France and came to England and did extremely well.

“If any team didn’t have him, they would miss him and that goes for us. We do miss him, but we have to move on.

“We have got other players that have come in and are doing a great job in that position and there’s no point dwelling on the past and dwelling on N’Golo. We have to look forward for ourselves and we have players that can fill his boots.”

Leicester have collected eight points from their opening seven Premier League fixtures to sit 12th in the table, five points adrift of Chelsea.

“Teams know our strengths and will try to nullify them so we have to think of different ways to win and different systems because we don’t want to be predictable,” Morgan added.

“Maybe we were overlooked last season, we surprised everyone, this season nobody is taking us for granted. Teams have approached the games with more intensity.”

Beyonce’s Formation tour ended on October 7 in New Jersey and according to Billboard, the Queen sold 2.2 million tickets, taking in over $256,084,556.

The tour, which began April 27 at Marlins Park in Miami, averaged $5.2 million and 45,757 paid attendance per show with a total of 49 stops around the world, which proves that everything Beyonce touches does turn to gold.

The two shows she had in London at the Wembley stadium in July were the highest-grossing stops for the tour, selling 142,500 tickets and earning $15.3 million.

The tour received high marks for its extravagant production, but tour promoter Arthur Fogel points out that Beyonce “rose above the spectacle” in her performances.

“When everybody acknowledges the greatness of the production but, more than that, everybody is blown away by her, that’s the ultimately skill,” he says. “To not only use the platform of a great production, but to rise above it as a performer and artist, that’s her incredibly unique quality.”

“When you go up [on sale] and sell out stadiums, and in some markets multiple stadiums, it’s big,” Arthur Fogel told Billboard. “I have to congratulate the great team on our side that does these things, and I congratulate her team, because it was all really well done, well set up, and well-executed all the way around.”

Dr Oluyombo Onafowokan, an Associate Professor, has flayed the directive by the Senate that JAMB should extend the validity of results acquired in Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) to a period of three years – saying it will have negative effect on the nation’s standard of education.

Speaking on Saturday in an interview in Sango-Ota, Ogun state, Onafowokan, a Senior Lecturer, School of Management & Social Sciences, Pan Atlantic University, Lagos, stated that such policy would make students lackadaisical and unserious.

Onafowakan assertion is coming barely 24 hours after the Vice Chancellor of the Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti(ABUAD), Prof Michael Ajisafe, faulted the same decision by the senate to extend the validity of JAMB results to a period of three years.

Africa, beloved of God, has many sons and daughters. Some of them in ancient Egypt gave the world its modern civilisation. It also gave Greece its philosophy, which became the basis of Western thought and philosophy. However, a different race whom our Seers had warned us against, swooped on and enslaved almost all of Africa’s children. In pain and in tears, through our sweat and blood, we struggled for freedom. That was years before the whole humanity agreed that the right of a people to self-determination is non-negotiable.

This piece was written by Owei Lakemfa. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of 360Nobs.com.

Even at the dawn of freedom, Africa’s children were like sheep without Shepard, as the former slave masters sought to continue our enslavement, this time, indirectly. Then we coalesced into two broad groups. Some met in Casablanca, Moroccco and became the Casablanca Group; the other became the Monrovia Group. Africa’s far-sighted leaders met in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and on May 25, 1963, gave birth to one united movement of the African people called the Organisation of African Unity. We vowed that never again will Africans be enslaved and that those still in bondage like South Africa, Angola, Mozambique, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Guinea Bissau and Western Sahara shall be free. Indeed, despite the efforts of enslavers, they became free. All African children became free but we did not envisage that one of our prominent sons would collaborate with the foreign slave masters to deprive one of us of her freedom.

Mother Africa has been generous by providing for us all; big and small, we have our own inheritance. But our brother Morocco decided, in addition, to seize the inheritance and wealth of small Western Sahara. First it connived with the Spanish slave masters to deprive Western Sahara of its independence. Then it got the latter to hand over the riches of Western Sahara to him and Brother Mauritania; both proceeded to share it as a booty. Mauritania was to rethink and wash its hands off its share of the loot, which greedy Morocco seized and added to its share.

However, Africa will not have such covetousness and decided to call Brother Morocco to order, reminding him that the African peoples are one and that our ancestors forbid stealing. But stubborn Morocco would not agree, and when the rest of Africa welcomed our Saharawi brothers and sisters to our common home, the African Union, Morocco would have none of it. It decided to leave home and go hunting with the old slave masters. A few brothers walked out with him, but when they got to the gate, turned back to join the rest of the family. Morocco, backed by the former slave owners, went looting the fishes, phosphate and the riches of the Saharawi. It brutalised the Saharawi, detained some, destroyed their homes, forced some into refugee camps, built a wall dividing the territory, and forced the rest under its jackboots. It paid no heed to the international community, refused to allow the referendum the rest of the world directed should be conducted to allow the Western Sahara decide freely whether it wants to be free or be part of big brother Morocco. In one of the most ridiculous cases of thuggery, Morocco seized one of our Saharawi sisters, Aminatu Haider and exiled her to the territory of the former slave master. If indeed the Saharawi is Moroccan, how would you exile your citizen to a foreign territory?

After thirty two years of wandering in the desert and keeping bad company, prodigal Morocco decided to return home to the African Union. He must have realised that he is a nobody outside the homestead; that his foreign friends will never threat him as an equal, that is if in the first place, they regard him as a human being. Our brother, King Mohammed VI of Morocco who was born three months after the Union was founded, wrote a rambling and insulting 2,144-word letter announcing Morocco is willing to return. Nobody will stop such a return because Morocco is a long lost son and our home is a common patrimony. It is like a long lost sheep; why won’t motherly Africa rejoice that her prodigal son has decided to retrace his steps and return home? But while the Biblical prodigal son was remorseful, full of regrets and begged for forgiveness, the Moroccan prodigal is unrepentant, arrogant and exhibiting the traits of a street thug.

In the letter announcing his decision to return home, he referred to his brother Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR/Western Sahara) as a “phantom state.” His illogical argument is that the SADR, which is a biological son of Africa, is not a member of the United Nations (UN). So what? How is being a member of the UN the criteria for statehood? For decades, Switzerland, one of the oldest republics of the world, was not a member of the UN. In any case, do we need the certification of the UN to determine that the Saharawi is a full blooded African?

Morocco indulged in falsehood when he claimed it left the homestead because he does not want to create a division. The truth is that it left when it could not create a division. It wants to adopt the same tactics by trying to induce other Africans with economic and monetary baits to expel or suspend Western Sahara from our common home. Morocco can swallow its pride and return to the African fold, but the Saharawi will never be expelled from the home of his father. Africa belongs to all Africans and no African is superior to the other. Any African leader who backs Morocco, whether for a mess of porridge or due to pressures from the former slave masters, to expel or suspend Western Sahara from the African House, should know he is trying to break and destroy the union of the African peoples. Such people will be the enemies of the African people and foes of social justice. We cannot allow the rule of might over right in our continent. All those sharing in the loot of Western Sahara, be they foreigners or Africans, will ultimately have to account for their greed.

When leaders like General Muhammadu Buhari and Dr. Julius Nyerere (who presided) sat in the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) thirty two years and decided to admit the SADR into the Union, it was in the fundamental interest of Africa. To seek to take a different action today, is to betray these leaders, endanger the health of mother Africa and mortgage the future of our continent and children. If the prodigal son will not abide by the basic principles and the brotherly love that bind all of Africa, it is free to continue wandering in the desert. Prodigal Morocco cannot give Africa conditions to return home.

Owei Lakemfa, former Secretary General of African Workers is a Human Rights activist, journalist and author.

This piece was written by Owei Lakemfa. The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of 360Nobs.com.

Mariam is a singer/songwriter and self taught guitarist hailing from South London. Described as ‘atmospheric soul’, her music is the perfect blend of soul, folk and pop with thought provoking lyrics.

Mariam has always had a strong passion for words, writing poetry and creative pieces at a young age. She was quick to understand that she had a natural gift to combine rhythmic melodies with meaningful words, an ability she credits to her Nigerian heritage. She adds “Nigerians are natural story tellers, it is an art that is passed down and learned within the family and community, hearing stories has been a prominent fixture in my life just as strong as music. Music is such a powerful way to tell stories and relate to others, and I love how words come together to paint pictures”.

In 2011, Mariam decided it was finally time to share her music with the world and introduce herself as a singer/songwriter. She got well acquainted with the underground scene and started playing open mic nights. These experiences turned into opportunities and Mariam joined the ‘London Community Gospel Choir’ (who has supported artist such as Tom Jones, Sam Smith and more) and started working on original material with local artists (including British artist Samm Henshaw).

The soulful singer/songwriter is now proud and ready to share her debut single “Be There For Me”. She explains “This song is about unrequited love, it speaks about that moment you realise you can’t make anyone love you or reciprocate affection.” Be There For Me is the first track taken from her EP “Heart To Heart” which is set to be released on Friday 4th November.

The statement read: “AIG Fadairo was also former Commissioner of Police, Cross River State and served as Recruitment CP in Ebonyi State during the nationwide screening of applicants for Police recruitment.

“The Commission’s decision on the promotion of the four Commissioners of Police has been conveyed to the Inspector General of Police, Idris Ibrahim, for implementation.

“In the letter, signed by the Permanent Secretary and Secretary to the Commission, Mr. Musa Istifanus, the Commission said the individual letters for the promotions would be forwarded to the IGP in due course for onward transmission to the affected officers.”

The security sources revealed that while Nigerians celebrate the return of the girls, those in the armed services are not pleased with what Nigeria gave in exchange for the girls.

It was gathered that the troops and some military commanders, while expressing reservations about the swap, are worried by the fact that the release of the terrorist commanders could impact negatively on the ongoing campaign to flush out the insurgents from the North-East.

Further investigations showed that the senior military figures, who only knew of the release of the girls when the news broke on Thursday, are not happy that Boko Haram commanders, who had killed civilians and security personnel, were traded for the girls.

Also speaking, a top military figure, who pleaded anonymity, said that the information on the negotiation for the release of the Chibok girls was not meant to be known to the public.

The source added: “You must understand that it is not all information that we release to people. The lives of those girls were at stake. Negotiations securely rest on the shoulders of political leaders, but that does not mean that military operations will not continue. We must protect the civilian populace from attacks and build confidence in the citizenry.

“It was a political decision; we are under the political leadership. We derive our mandate from the constitution as provided for by democratic governance.

“The military action must continue and it is going on as planned. We are working round the clock, in concert with other security agencies, to ensure that the remaining girls are also rescued.”

The late Eazy-E’s daughter still believes her father was murdered and is trying to raise money to tell the story how she sees it.

25-year old Ebie Wright has launched a Kickstarter to fund the documentary about her father’s death titled A Ruthless Scandal: No More Lies. The film will allege that Eazy-E was infected with AIDS in a nefarious manner and present shocking revelations about his final days.

“The stories that we’re telling are mainly about the scandal surrounding my father’s death,” Ebie Wright told Rolling Stone “But we also wanted to show his accomplishments, his personal life and, really, the aftermath of his demise and what happened to us. We never felt the story that was told to the public was the truth. It’s just something that has always pained us.”

“People don’t know what happened to his family or me as his kid or what happened to his record label or to all his belongings,” Wright said. “People have the perception that we were all left everything of his and his kids are good and life is peachy keen, but it’s really not. It’s really a tragic story. And it’s just time; it needs to be told.”

Ebie Wright’s mother, Tracy Jernagin, and her half-sister, Erica, have signed on as producers of the film. DJ Quik is also supporting the documentary by appearing in the a promotional video for the Kickstarter campaign.